The use of caller line identification (known as CLID, CLI or CID) systems in landline telephone systems as well as mobile telephone systems is well known. In a typical CID system, the name and or telephone number of a caller is provided on a display of the called party soon after the called party's telephone begins to ring. United States Statutory Invention Registration No. H1714, published Mar. 3, 1998, describes a caller identification system that, in addition to sending the name and telephone number of a caller, also sends an image associated with the calling party.
The caller identification system disclosed in SIR H1714 is for use in a conventional (landline) telephone system. In conventional systems there is typically sufficient bandwidth available in the telephone system, such that the additional bandwidth required to send an image with other caller identification information does not interfere with the signaling required to establish a call between the calling party and the called party. In typical mobile applications, the bandwidth available for caller identification in existing networks is limited and cannot typically support the sending of a caller's image along with other caller identification information. Future generation networks (including third generation networks) are being designed with additional bandwidth to support additional service features, however, these networks are not expected to be deployed on a wide scale until well into the future.